The gun is what is referred to as the "Egyptian Contract" by collectors here in the US, though there is no specific documentation available that defines the actual contract. Many SKS's can be found in the Middle East with Arabic markings from nearly every country of manufacture. But this thread will focus on the Chinese guns. A few years ago, I collected data from both Gunboards and Survivor's SKS Boards and documented twenty-six known examples owned by members. All are originally manufactured at the Jianshe factory /26\, and most all from the years of 1965 and 1968. The serial numbers range from 9,029,424 to 9,052,339 in 1965, suggesting a possible approximate 23,000 units. Serials from 1968 range from 12,221,0XX to 12,244,990 or about 24,000 possible units.
Mine is a 1968 model, and the factory/serial is pictured below. Exported by Norinco, and imported by CAI ST ALB VT.
Two very prominent usual features of the Egyptian Contract are the deep blued (not painted) bolt carrier, and the laminated stock, which was made in Russia, with inletting to fit both a blade or a spike bayonet. Mine has the spike, but I've inserted a spare blade in one pic to show the inletting feature.
A typical painted Arabic marking on the buttstock. (Photo, courtesy of Tex of Gunboards)
The stock on mine is most definitely a Russian arctic birch laminate, with 45 to 47 cross-grained laminate layers, wrist crossbolt, "diver's down" refurb stamp on right buttstock, and BBQ paint on the Russian buttstock plate.
Layers, next to Russian stock (on right)
Cross-grained arctic birch lamination, and rear crossbolt.
Russian refurb stamp on right buttstock (sanded and refinished, but still visible)
Buttplate comparison to Russian Refurb (left), Egyptian Contract (center), Russian non-refurb (right)
More pics of the matching metal numbers (bolt itself matches, but not shown), Cyrillic lettered rear sight leaf, non-lightening cut bolt carrier.
Notes:
a). Both the deeply blued bolt, and the double inletted Russian laminated stock are NOT always present in these serial ranges. Bolts in the white, and single inletted hardwood stocks do appear on these guns, but they can show other features that connect them to the Middle East. The two most common related features are 1). The painted Arabic markings on the buttstock, and 2). A stock refinish that employs a VERY gritty and dark colored shellac. This refinish is commonly thought to have been performed at the Maadi Arsenal in Egypt (again, I can find no definitive documentation in relation to the rearsenal process of the SKS). Along with the gritty finish, other action parts have also shown replacement/scrubbing/refinishing to match, further suggesting that a rearsenal process has taken place outside of China, and most likely at Maadi.
b). Mine is CAI import marked from Norinco (established in 1980), suggesting that the gun was never delivered to the Middle East from China, and was subsequently exported to the U.S. in the 1980's or early 1990's. A very few others also show the Norinco stamp. Most show just the CAI stamp, and may have been imported from Kuwait, as confirmed through correspondence between Prince50 of Survivor's SKS and Century Arms.
c). A few Chinese guns have been found outside of the above common serial number ranges, and years of manufacture. They don't necessarily exhibit the Russian laminate stock or blued bolt, but have either the gritty shellac and/or Arabic markings. No specific "batch" of these odd appearing Chinese guns can be determined by serial number ranges or specific years. These are not usually import marked, suggesting that they are possible bringbacks from the Middle East, and from various possible countries (Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel). Again, Russian and other country's guns are also found from the region with the gritty shellac and/or painted marks.
d). A few (not many) common Chinese imports have also surfaced in the above serial ranges, with no Egyptian Contract features at all. These have all been arsenal refinished with scrubbed numbers on metal parts other than the receiver, and are fitted with chu wood replacement stocks.
Disclaimer: The above post contains information gathered from the internet, and may be subject to my own interpretation and/or erroneous information. Accept this post's conclusions at your own risk! Any further commentary/documentation is always welcome. Thanks for looking and reading.
JGC
